Unitive Politics

Emerging Vision for Unitive Politics

Convener: Sylvia Clute Sylvia twice ran for state-wide office in Virginia, testing her theory that there IS a constituency for a Unitive Justice approach to policy, law and politics. While she did not win the elections, she did prove her theory—there are many who desire and will support the positive approach to politics that Unitive Politics offers. How well this positive approach will fare when offered by established politicians is untested territory, but terrain to be explored. Sylvia holds graduate degrees in public administration from Univ. of Cal./Berkeley and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a JD from Boston Univ. School of Law.

Our politics are in chaos. If we continue to do the same thing, the present divisiveness is not only our present, it is our future. Without understanding how we got where we are, our system blindness about the very system we are in may cause us to help perpetuate it without realizing it. This keeps us hoping for change while doing the same thing and getting the same results.

Unitive Politics offers the seeds of system change that can turn the tide and direct us toward a system built on connection, honesty and inclusion. Just as our negative impulses were intentionally cultivated to get us where we are now, our inherent goodness can, over time, be systematically called upon to create lasting system change.

Unitive Politics is designed to allow us to examine the underlying conflict dynamics that shape American politics. We will consider how certain structures enable this system to be used to benefit the few at the expense of the many. Unitive Politics is also designed to provide a path using specific strategies to create political system change.

Bitter divisiveness is a significant characteristic of today’s American political scene. The Unitive Politics Practice Group will provide opportunities to experience circle processes in which people hear one another, where it is safe to be honest, and a space designed to help us recognize our shared humanity. Being present to our shared humanity opens up possibilities that we cannot imagine when self-interest and retribution are driving our actions.

The Unitive Politics Practice Group will consider specific divisive policies and the evidence they contain about the underlying structures that enable them. Every output contains evidence of the intent and content that produced it. This information tells us what structures must change in order to achieve system change and policies that support connection, honesty and strengthen community.

Politics is a unique aspect of our culture; it provides the portal for taking action at the level we directly control—our individual actions and interactions—to collectively shape complex political policies and patterns. Understanding our systemic brokenness and how we can transcend it, even while we are in it, is a central goal of this Practice Group. Please join us—we can and must do better!